STEFANO MAIORANA CONNECTS TWO KINDRED MUSICAL SOULS

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

STEFANO MAIORANA CONNECTS TWO KINDRED MUSICAL SOULS

Out of the blue Italian multi-instrumentalist Stefano Maiorana (EN Stefano Maiorana) sent me several links to his superb album ENTRE DOS ALMAS for Outhere Music (outhere-music.com).

Primarily a guitarist who specializes in music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, this extraordinary artist brings to life in this album the music of Santiago de Murcia, a Spanish guitarist and composer who lived between 1673 and 1739 and who during the 66 years of his life lived a hand-to-mouth existence notwithstanding having served the court of Maria Luisa de Savoy, Queen of Spain as Master of the Guitar.

Murcia’s wide ranging talent led him to explore Spanish, French and Italian musical styles and folklore dance forms, which he compiled in his Resumen de acompañar. In his album for Outhere Music, the resourceful Stefano Maiorana takes us on a lovely visit to the music of Santiago de Murcia along with a couple of Arcangelo Corelli sonatas, all with splendid results.

Murcia’s music coming already towards the end of the Baroque and not quite fully inhabiting the Classical era straddles both periods in a charming manner, injecting into it the quintessentially Spanish rhythms of the popular fandangos, jacaras and canaries then in vogue and raising them to the level of courtly music.

ENTRE DOS ALMAS evidences how the Spanish to the core music of Santiago de Murcia and the intrinsically Italian music of Arcangelo Corelli linked each to the other as profoundly connected art forms: two kindred souls enriching one another by way of Stefano Maiorana, an immensely accomplished artist conversant in all the performance practices of the period and in command of a perfect balance of technique, musicality and temperament.

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”